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by 661-Pete
17 Jan 2022, 7:16pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France
Replies: 85
Views: 2560

Re: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France

reohn2 wrote: 17 Jan 2022, 5:36pm In the same way the Jews need to stop stealing Palastinians land and abusing the people who live there and claiming it's theirs by God given right!
Hmmm... I've long since assumed that the Mods on here aren't really bothered about antisemitism on this forum - so I won't bother to report.

So what's wrong with the above post?

Simple: using the word 'Jews' instead of the word 'Israelis' - or if you insist, 'Zionists'.

See here - and bear in mind please, that this definition was accepted by the Labour Party even in your hero Corbyn's time as leader.

Speaking for myself ... I suppose I'm obliged to. I'm still, ethnically, a Jew. I abhor and detest the atrocious behaviour of many Israelis, in particular the Israeli government - towards the Palestinian people. I've been to Israel myself, but that was in the 1960s. I'd never set foot there today. I despair of there ever being a solution - but maybe in the distant future...

Even in my teens I felt uneasy about justifying the creation of Israel per se. And that was before I learnt things about the Naqba.

Enough said. Except .... please get the spelling of 'Palestinian' right!

Mods note: I have edited the previous post; it now says 'Zionists'. Also, it simply is not true that the mods here ( well me, anyway ) are not bothered by antisemitism. I am quite a lot bothered by antisemitism or anti anything that people are born with and cannot change. I am perfectly happy for anyone to be as negative as they like about any organised religion, political party, demonstration or cycle maintenance manual.
by 661-Pete
17 Jan 2022, 4:59pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The "Royals" Thread
Replies: 1350
Views: 54539

Re: The "Royals" Thread

Psamathe wrote: 17 Jan 2022, 4:09pm When I first read this I thought I was in the NewsBiscuit feed ... but no, it's (apparently) serious
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ghislaine-maxwell-itv-page-prince-two-b1994572.html wrote:Andrew’s teddy bear collection was not to be disturbed, claims documentary
The Duke of York’s love of his soft toy collection meant he would throw a tantrum if the teddy bears were moved, an ITV documentary will allege.
I'm not sure I quite understand this. Do they mean that in recent years (i.e. Prince A in his 50s and 60s) he still took teddy-bears to bed and threw tantrums? - or do they mean when he was a child? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Please tell me, someone, that it was the former....! :D :shock: :twisted:

I remember that our son, when he was a toddler, used to take all his soft toys to bed with him. But he never complained if we put them away when making his bed. Just fetched them out again the following night...
by 661-Pete
17 Jan 2022, 9:25am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France
Replies: 85
Views: 2560

Re: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France

al_yrpal wrote: 17 Jan 2022, 7:13am Afraid you might upset some supreme being and end up on a toasting fork eh? :lol:
I'm assuming, from the presence of the smiley, the flippancy in your above remark! :lol: As I've probably said before, I'm an atheist so none of this 'supreme being' mantra applies to me. The risk is of upsetting and aggravating fellow-humans - that's all.

What I will say, re 'compulsory religion', is that I see faith schools as a form of that. Pupils have to undergo 'Religious Instruction' as it was called in my day (now, I think, it's the more moderate 'RE'). The compulsory 'act of worship' in schools also comes into that category, as I well remember. It is quite in order for the Humanists to campaign against these practices - as well as against solely religious represenation (i.e. bishops) in the Legislature.

For me, personally, it was the pressure from my father to conform to the Judaism I was brought up in. This led to inner conflicts which it took me a long time to shake off, even after my father's death. In fact, it was only after my marriage (to a non-Jew) that I finally said farewell to religion.

As to what happens when the Grim Reaper shows up: I've put in my Will that it has to be a non-religious or Humanist, if any, send-off.
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 11:14pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: TV licensing...
Replies: 1894
Views: 103885

Re: TV licensing...

Licence fee to be abolished by 2027? Sweetener to win back the lumpenproletariat red-wall voters, I guess. De-funding the BBC to the point that all they'll be able to broadcast is game shows and the like ... will they care?

Admittedly it's been years, decades even, since the Beeb's glory days of the 1950s/60s/70s. Remember Forsyte Saga? Hancock's Half-Hour? War and Peace?
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 10:55pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France
Replies: 85
Views: 2560

Re: The Pope: Children pets and the Tour de France

Hmmm... touchy topic, this. I'm not about to deprecate any form of religion - just so long as it's not compulsory religion. Been there...
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 8:50pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

reohn2 wrote: 16 Jan 2022, 7:20pm
Cowsham wrote: 16 Jan 2022, 4:23pm Maybe she read this from the very same newspaper
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/c ... 34624.html
It begs the question how do they know?
And what's the percentage of women paedophiles?
Nevertheless, that statistic - if true - is scary. One-in-thirty-five...

Put it in perspective. For example: a (men's) Rugby Union match. 30 players, three officials, two trainers. That's 35 men. So, on average, one of those participating might be a paedophile.

I have to say my flabber is well and truly ghasted. In my student days I was sometimes called upon to babysit (for the local rabbi's toddler, of all people). No-one would have raised an eyebrow, back then. But now....! :shock:
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 12:02pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

Men should not be hired to look after young children because of the risk they might be paedophiles, Andrea Leadsom has said.
Presumably she's never heard of Ghislaine Maxwell ... or Myra Hindley.
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 11:54am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

Hellhound wrote: 16 Jan 2022, 11:07am This is a direct quote from a Facebook feed of work colleague.61 years old,40 years in the Steel Industry, lifelong Labour voter who voted for Boris and to leave the EU.This follows rant-after-rant about lockdowns and he and his wife not being able to take their annual holiday in the Dominican Republic.Sorry about the Grammar but it's a cut-and-paste.
...which is why I sometimes think, the voting franchise should be restricted to the functionally literate...

[No, don't answer that... :roll: ]

...and yes, before you ask, yes I did read The Rise of the Meritocracy. Not sure I understood it all, and not sure I fully agree with Michael Young's point of view - but then I'm no expert.
by 661-Pete
16 Jan 2022, 10:24am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

Jdsk wrote: 16 Jan 2022, 8:45am An exSpAd on the drinking culture in Whitehall:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... nk-problem
Frankly, that's shocking. I don't recall whether there was an absolute ban on alcohol at all of my workplaces, but I do remember at least one colleague being sacked on the spot for being - er - inebriated at work. Surely that's the norm in all sensibly-run workplaces? (Except, perhaps, pubs).

I keep thinking, if only we had Jim Callaghan back! - he was a notable teetotaller. But in fact many people high up in politics don't drink. Joe Biden doesn't drink (Unfortunately, neither did Donald Trump. Nor Hitler...).

I speak as an almost-teetotaller myself (we use wine occasionally in cooking, that's all). But I hope I don't come across all sanctimonious here! In reality, I found, some years ago, that a pint of beer (~ 2.5 units) would set me into palpitations, and even a half-pint made me uncomfortable. So I stay clear of the stuff now - and none the worse for it. Just asking others to think about it...

One crumb of comfort: Rishi Sunak, apparently, is also a TT. So if he becomes PM, perhaps the culture will change...
by 661-Pete
15 Jan 2022, 7:16pm
Forum: Fun & Games
Topic: Three Word Story Game (again)
Replies: 8855
Views: 432352

Re: Three Word Story Game (again)

"Avast!" She whined, "back in hibernation" she continued, but, near Zeta Reticuli; the dynamic duo were spaced out. "I've a tummy-ache!"
"In which constellation?" Gemini of course and twinned with Sputnik 2.

Laika had just finished Christmas dinner and was regretting volunteering to tryout the doggy ["dodgy"?] spacecraft.
Meanwhile Barbie and the DoJ were strangling a Brownie box camera with Boris's old Y-Fronts, a pyjama cord threaded through his teething ring connected to the doorknob of the space-shuttle

Professor Challenger discovered a crack in Boris's posterior, which caused a failure to break wind while delivering a custard pie to Her Maj's physiognomy. The trouble was it hadn't defrosted the frozen mammoth appendage in his proverbials.

Elephants, however, have no proverbials and never forget
by 661-Pete
15 Jan 2022, 7:09pm
Forum: Fun & Games
Topic: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??
Replies: 2239
Views: 125319

Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

We could go on for pages about English's non-phonetic structure: how else could we have words like bough, cough, dough, rough - none of which rhyme?

At least it comes as a relief, when trying to learn a foreign language, to find that it is phonetic: once you see a word you know exactly how it's pronounced. Like Spanish (although, trying to decipher a native Spanish-speaker talking rapidly, I reckon some of the preciseness gets dropped...).

It came as a surprise to me when my son (who speaks some Russian) told me that Russian - for all the precision embodied in the Cyrillic alphabet - is not quite a phonetic language.
by 661-Pete
15 Jan 2022, 2:05pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

reohn2 wrote: 15 Jan 2022, 10:10am But would the decent Tory ever get to a position of being PM?
Point being made is being "decent" excludes him from leadership without question.
I'm afraid you're probably right, there.

I'd love to hear of the Councillor I mentioned defecting - even if it were to the LibDems (he wouldn't have any truck with Labour - sorry! - and he's not very Green). He lost his seat as a County Councillor last year, and would have kept it if he'd stood for LD.

But neither I nor Mrs P are going to act his Mephistopheles - even though he lives only a couple of streets from us (but in a much posher neighbourhood...). Let him follow his conscience. Surely there must be plenty of Tories out there with a conscience...?
by 661-Pete
15 Jan 2022, 2:00pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

Psamathe wrote: 15 Jan 2022, 12:11pm Watching Johnson's clinging to power and drawing up lists of those to lose their livelihood to scapegoat his mistakes is both comical and tragic.
It was the same with Nixon - nearly 50 years ago, for those who can remember. Firing his underlings left right and centre - but it didn't save his skin. I suppose the same happened with Trump. But US politics has always been cutthroat. we used not to expect that sort of thing here - but times have changed...
by 661-Pete
15 Jan 2022, 9:17am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

reohn2 wrote: 15 Jan 2022, 8:42am Can you think of anyone in the Tory party who cares more for the country than they do for their despicable party?
Actually, I can. We have two Tories in our local Town Council (in which Mrs P also serves, as a Green). Before 2019 all 18 seats were held by Tories.

One of the two, a local man in late middle-age, fairly well-to-do (judging by his house and car), is nevertheless quite a decent guy. I've met him a few times and Mrs P says he contributes sensibly and usefully to the Council meetings, and, being more experienced in Local Gov. than the new 2019 intake, he has lots of good advice to offer his fellow-councillors.

The other Tory, on the other hand, probably does fit your perception. I'll say no more.
by 661-Pete
14 Jan 2022, 8:32pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Boris's Brain is missing
Replies: 3960
Views: 205371

Re: Boris's Brain is missing

sjs wrote: 14 Jan 2022, 7:39pm Shame about the spelling though.
It's The Tiems/Sinday Timse. Their spelling is even worse than the Grauniad's...